Arrangement
by JosephineSilver
Summary: Alibaba needs his people out from under Kouen's direct influence. Kyougoku needs allies away from both the Kou empire and Sindria. Sinbad's plan...may need a rethinking. Or, in which Alibaba remembers that communication is key and friendship is magic, leading to an end no-one could have predicted. AU, fix-it, one-shot.
One minute Kougyoku was excitedly relating to Alibaba her change in status, the next, she was lying limp in his arms. There was no disconnect between the two, no telling period of black that let her know that time had passed.

 _"Wha-"_ she began, only to be cutoff by a frantic Alibaba. His golden eyes shine with tears and his voice is trembling, breaking, a tumultuous mix of sorrow and confusion and rage.

His words are damning, unbelievable. In her veins, her blood runs cold; her spine replaced by a rod of ice.

Tears well behind her eyes as the true meaning of Alibaba's words hit her, and she begins to tremble and shake - her legs, already weak from whatever ordeal _he_ had just caused her body, almost giving way from beneath her.

Alibaba's arms around her are the only thing holding her steady by that point, and her head is positively swimming in nausea.

He's in her head. He's in her head, and he's watching everything she says, everything she does, so he can _turn that knowledge against her family._

Once, she thinks, she loved him. She thought he would be the answer. Now, now, her voice and eyes and ears aren't hers. Only her innermost thoughts are still sacrosanct to her - and it is with that in mind that she does what she does next.

"Alibaba," she says, and though her voice is weak, it is cold, distant. "Marry me."

The arms that encircle her, Alibaba's arms, _her friend's arms_ \- they stiffen, tighten, bands of muscle standing out against tan skin gone pale, before relaxing once again, and shifting their hold on her so she is, for the most part, standing upright. "Kougyoku?" He questions warily, his eyes - searching.

Those eyes, a wide, golden window to his soul had reflected her own back at her. _This is someone who understands,_ she had thought then, _someone who knows me_.

This was _Alibaba_ , her first, her only, _friend_.

His eyes had darkened now, burdened by some purpose, and a haunted look filled them as he gazed back at her. But - but he was _thinking_ , he was _smart_ , they were the _same_ \- surely he understood her logic.

Surely he understood that they needed each other.

"Marry me," her voice wasn't as weak this time, her gaze locked onto Alibaba's unwaveringly. He returned her stare without blinking. "Pl _ease_."

Something sparks in his expression as her voice breaks on that last word, and then a fire appears lit in his eyes - _determination_.

One arm loosens its hold on her, a hand rising up to grip one of her own. "Okay," he says, and his voice is solemn, quiet - he understands, then, just what she is asking of him.

Kougyoku bursts into tears.

[x]

Miles, leagues, and an open sea away, Sinbad leans more fully into the back of his chair, spreading out in a way that allows his full weight to distribute against it.

He is...confused. This, he had not expected. Not Alibaba informing the girl of his presence - his warning to him, about how the Kou Empire would see this, was decidedly _not_ a lie - he had figured that Alibaba would hold his tongue, and agree with his, Sinbad's, decision. Over the long run, that may build up more resentment between them on Alibaba's part, adding onto whatever he hadn't managed to fix since Balbadd, but Sinbad was confident that overtime, that could be fixed. Alibaba, after all, was smart and for the most part, reasonable, especially considering his age.

However, Sinbad had miscounted just how strong his affection for that particular Kou princess was. Alibaba, after all, could be remarkably...not stupid, rather _obtuse_ , when it came to his friends, or the people he considered his responsibility. Throughout his entire stay in Sindria, Sinbad had been positively flocked with complaints on how the boy kept slipping through his guards, making it out of the palace grounds several times. He had never gotten further than that - a healthy mix of Sharrkan and Ja'far had seen to that, sometimes with the assist of Drakon, or even Sinbad himself - but his tenacity in the face of Balbadd's plight would have been admirable, if it wasn't so annoying.

If Aladdin or Morgiana ended up in some similar sort of trouble, Sinbad honestly feared for the world, or at least whatever part of it Alibaba happened to be in at the time. Metal Vessel users tended to be dangerous at the best of times, and nothing set Alibaba of like a threat to his loved ones. Granted, Sinbad was the same, but he had long since learned the value of _patience_ and _planning_ (maybe not as much as Ja'far would like, but. Still).

He had just never expected _Ren Kougyoku_ to be one of those people that turned him so utterly stupid.

He had misjudged, badly. Possibly irreparably. He had revealed himself to Alibaba believing that knowing of his presence within Kougyoku's mind and his warning, the younger boy would quickly withdraw from any serious thought of these negotiations, a mixture of guilt and horror pressing him to keep far away from Kougyoku.

And then, that princess, the girl he had written off as a meaningless crush that happened to have combat skills as a Metal Vessel holder, that he had seen and thought and planted as the perfect high placed spy, had blurted out those words.

 _Marry me_.

And Alibaba had said _yes_.

In this one act, Sinbad may have just burnt any bridges tying him to Alibaba, and thus Aladdin. Oh sure, if something were to threaten Sindria, the young magi would more than likely come to help - Yamraiha was here, after all, as was Sharrkan, and neither boy were the type to hold a grudge against Sinbad against his household members - but there was a world of difference between coming to someone's aid in times of trouble and _offering_ them your services in _case_ of trouble.

Sinbad grit his teeth. _How to fix this?_

Well, for now, Kougyoku had become functionally useless to him as a spy. Knowing of his presence, the princess was clever enough to avoid situations that would risk the chance of overhearing sensitive info, would probably, in fact, attempt to avoid her siblings altogether - after all, she had now found a staunch ally in Alibaba.

His eyes closed briefly, a headache beginning to pound between them.

He _needed_ to fix this.

[x]

Aladdin's eyes were hooded, dark and haunted with the knowledge just bestowed to him. By his side, Morgiana stood stiff, her face blank but her eyes burning with anger as she looked over Kougyoku; sitting across from her and next to Alibaba.

"A slave," her voice trembled with a myriad of emotions. It was strange, uncomfortable, to hear Morgiana's soft tone filled with so much anger - so much - _hate_. "He made you _into his slave_."

Kougyoku's rage, equal if not stronger to Morgiana's, showed freely on the Kou empire princesses face, relishing in finding someone who felt the same as her. "He still watches us now," Kougyoku said.

The two boys in the room were silent, both burdened with sorrow where the girls had focused in on their anger with laser precision - if they focused on what else they felt, they would have to acknowledge the betrayal. For Kougyoku, who had loved Sinbad, no matter how fleeting or silly an... _infatuation_ , the betrayal was near unbearable, and it tore at her heart. For Morgiana, Sinbad had given her the knowledge she had needed to fight at the sides of Aladdin and Alibaba as Alibaba's Household Member - and knowing what he'd done to Kougyoku made her wonder if he would have done the same to her, if he felt the need to spy on either one of her boys.

Alibaba met Aladdin's eyes. The young magi was drooped over in his chair, wilted like a flower distressed by heat. After agreeing to Kouen's terms, news of the planned marriage had spread fast, and Aladdin and Morgiana had both powered their way to Balbadd to demand answers, explanations.

What they had learned upon arrival had not been what they had been expecting - and the next ten minutes, in which they made their way to a more private chamber within the palace, had been filled with horrified silence, the kind that deepened and built upon itself.

"Aladdin," Alibaba spoke quietly. "Before now, you've shown some control over the Djinn - they listen to you, when you talk. Do you think you could free Kougyoku's mind from Zepar's influence?"

Aladdin is sitting, hunched over with fisted hands in lap, and Kougyoku wonders just how he feels about all this. Aladdin still holds a grudge against her for what happened in Balbaad to his Djinn friend, and Sinbad and his generals _are_ friends to the young magi - but he is principled, and it is clear that he does not agree with what Sinbad has done.

He looks up, and his eyes are filled with a grim sort of determination.

"I can try," he answers Alibaba.

[x]

Sinbad recoils as with a suddenness he had not expected, Zepar is present within his mind, resonating a stubborn defiance - the Djinn has, Sinbad realizes, relinquished its hold on Kougyoku's mind.

"Zepar?" he questions warily.

There is no answer.

[x]

"So...what now?"

As Aladdin asks this question, blinking up at Alibaba, Kougyoku breathes.

"Now, we plan a wedding," she says.

Both Aladdin and Alibaba blink at her, though a sort of understanding resignation makes its way across Alibaba's face, and Morgiana's face is made of stone - neither damning nor encouraging.

"But Zepar is gone now," Aladdin says. "You don't need to marry Alibaba so you can stay away from the Kou Empire in Balbadd."

"It's not that easy, Aladdin," Alibaba addresses the boy, but Kougyoku can tell his attention is on his household member - whose attention, in turn, is on her. "There have been missives sent out, the entire Kou imperial family is expecting me and Kougyoku to wed. To go back on my word now would be to spit in their faces - they would destroy Balbadd in retaliation."

"So what do we do?" Morgiana's voice cuts over whatever it was Aladdin was about to respond with. Her eyes, still fixed on Kougyoku, burn with an inner fire. It is clear whose response she wants.

So Kougyoku answers her. "After Alibaba and I have married, the majority of Kou forces will leave with my brothers. Only a small group of retainers will be left with me - as Balbadd will have become a part of the empire there will be no reason for the various army members with them to stay." She cast a hesitant look at Alibaba. "However, and citizens that have migrated here will not leave, nor any business owners, and...I don't think we can abolish slavery, either."

All three looked pained by this, but Alibaba nods. "It will take time," he allows, "but it can be done. And as long as the Kou empire believes that Balbadd is no problem, and that I will fight by their side as a Metal Vessel user in their army, we will be safe here."

"We can _plan_ ," Kougyoku jumps in. "Something bad is happening in the world -"

"Al-Thamen," Aladdin nods.

"- and we need to make our own move to protect it. The Kou empire is concerned with conquering the other nations throughout the world in the name of peaceful unity, and who _knows_ what Sindria is planning. Like them, we'll have our own hidden agenda."

Morgiana is smiling, Kougyoku notices - smiling at her. And as Aladdin starts babbling a mile a minute at Alibaba and her friend eagerly responds, the princess sends the former slave girl a questioning look.

"You care for him, don't you?" Morgiana's question is quiet, and if Kougyoku had not been deliberately focusing in on her she might not have heard it.

"Of course," she says, affronted. "He's my friend."

Morgiana shakes her head. "But you don't _love_ him." There is something vulnerable and almost dark around the other girl as she whispers this, and Kougyoku understands.

"I won't take him from you," she informs Morgiana quietly. "I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to - you're ingrained too deeply within his heart for me to do that." A smile, to reassure. "This marriage is just temporary, you know. Once we've fixed the world, we'll get it annulled, because in the end the both of us truly do want to marry for love."

Morgiana nods, and Kougyoku smiles. "Hey, Morgiana," she says, and suddenly she is nervous. "Do you think...do you think we could be friends?"

Morgiana's stare is blank for a moment, and then -

"I think we could try," she said.


End file.
